Hempelman Auto Parts & Machine Shop

They are not proffesional… I called up and asked how much to mill some heads. I think it was Brian who quoted me. This question was so that I could gauge if this was going to be an expensive place. Im new in the glendale area but have been sending heads for machine work since 1986 to many different machine shops, The quote was fine.
Brian said he could not pick up the heads so I sent one of my guys. They dropped off the heads and I went to pick them up after their call.
The problem is they milled the heads without checking them for cracks etc. I did not realize this until the heads were already installed. I called brian up to ask him how this could happen. I received nothing but attitude, he blamed me for asking for a resurface instead of asking for inspection. I never asked for them to just mill the heads without inspecting them. I think Brian had a chip on his shoulder that day. I find myself providing a warranty job approx $ –1,000.00 because of Brians lack of proffessionalism. I’m ok with taking care of my customer but I will not ever send any work to Hempelman’s again.

This is the true name for the Napa auto parts dealer at this address and is the one that shows up on the Napa website and on receipts from this store. Most Napa stores, like many major auto parts brands, are franchise dealers. I cannot state how long this store has been in business but I do know they were well established when I moved here in 1993. After 40 years of experience working on cars, about a third of that for a living, I have come to prefer Napa over most other brands for parts that will work correctly the first time. Napa operates regional parts centers to support their dealers and there is one in Phoenix that the local dealers visit, sometimes several times in a day. When I lived in Buellton and Santa Barbara the regional center was in Los Angeles and deliveries were by truck six days a week. Napa dealers in general are geared towards mechanics while some of their competitors are geared towards the consumer with onsite vehicles tests.
My visits this past week followed a typical pattern where I needed an oddball drive belt. I ordered it over the weekend and they had it for me by noon the next business day. Because I know the system this works fine for me. If I had needed a part immediately to keep a vehicle running I might have picked another brand knowing I would most likely have been replacing it again in short order. Before I make it sound like they do not stock anything, they really do have quite a bit of stock based on sales volume. I will continue to go here when I need parts.